CHP's Taşcıer reacts to Minister Işıkhan on minimum wage: 'It is not a necessity, it is your choice'

CHP Deputy Chair Gamze Taşcıer issued a written statement regarding the minimum wage debates. Taşcıer criticized the remarks of Minister of Labor and Social Security Vedat Işıkhan, who said, "You know, the minimum wage was always once a year. We are working towards a single raise again."

"AT LEAST 40 PERCENT OF EMPLOYEES RECEIVE MINIMUM WAGE OR A WAGE VERY CLOSE TO IT"

Taşcıer stated the following:

"People's intelligence can only be mocked to this extent. The bones of the working class have been broken from being crushed, yet government representatives still close their eyes to the realities of life. Are they expecting thanks from the workers by saying, 'The raise last July was extra' regarding the minimum wage hike? Millions of people in this country who work for a wage are trying to survive, losing days of their lives without being able to dream of any future, saying 'I hope we can at least make it to tomorrow.'

The Minister comes out and, as if they have bestowed a favor, says, 'The raise last time was extra.' The issue that the honorable Minister and his Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan should be thinking about is why the minimum wage amount in this country is awaited with such curiosity, unlike anywhere else in the world."

Stating that at least 40 percent of wage earners in Turkey receive the minimum wage or a wage very close to it, Taşcıer argued that 91 percent of private sector employees receive less than twice the minimum wage.

"YOU ARE THE ONES WHO CAUSED IT"

Taşcıer stated the following in her statement:

"In such an environment, we do not accept the Minister of Labor and Social Security's speech, which implies as if the workers were responsible for the economic crisis and inflation and that this trouble is now disappearing. You are the ones who caused the need for minimum wage earners to receive an interim raise. Erdoğan and his team used to say, 'interest is the cause, inflation is the result,' then they U-turned. Now they are trying to suggest that workers' wages are the cause and inflation is the result. They will increase the minimum wage, which is below the hunger threshold, to a level that will fall below the hunger threshold again in a few months, but they are still chasing after praise for the President. I want to remind the honorable Minister that giving the minimum wage only once a year is not a necessity, it is your choice. The AKP's choice is the continuation of hunger, misery, and poverty."